[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Highland
by L.L. No. 1-2002. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this permit system shall be to ensure repairs,
where necessary on account of damage incurred by timber harvesting
and logging to any Town roads and compliance with the Timber Harvesting
Guideline. The Code Enforcement Officer shall be authorized to immediately
revoke the permits of any commercial logger who shall not comply with
these requirements until such compliance is secured and failure to
comply shall require the permanent ceasing of all activity by said
logger within the Town of Highland. Commercial loggers who shall fail
to comply with these requirements shall also be ineligible for any
future logging permits within the Town of Highland.
A.
Any person proposing to engage in commercial logging or forestry
operations within the Town of Highland shall first obtain a permit
from the Town Code Enforcement Officer for each project. A permit
may be amended in writing to cover additional locations. Such permit
shall be good for a 12 months' duration but may be extended for not
to exceed two additional six-month periods provided the operation
continues to comply with all requirements contained herein. The permit
application shall be made on an official "Application for Logging
Permit" form and shall be accompanied by a fee in an amount to be
determined by resolution of the Town Board. The work "shall" is intended
throughout this chapter as being mandatory.
B.
The application shall require the following: 1) names, addresses, signatures and telephone numbers of the property owner(s) and logger; 2) the dates which timber harvesting will take place; 3) a location map showing where the logging will take place, the site of any landing and the proposed access to the public highway system; and 4) proof of $500,000 liability insurance shall also be required. Any required permit from the Highway Superintendent under the Highway Law is in addition to these requirements. For the purpose of this § 115-2, the term "logging" is defined as the process, work, or business of cutting down trees and transporting the logs to saw mills.
No clear-cutting of more than five acres shall be done without
obtaining a special use permit from the Town of Highland Planning
Board. For the purpose of this section the term "clear-cutting" is
defined as the removal from more than five acres of a forested tract
of substantially all trees, for other than agricultural or approved
wildlife management purposes.
Plans for roads constructed to provide access to county, state
or Town highways shall be subject to review, modification and all
permit requirements under the Town of Highland Highway Law through
the Town of Highland Highway Superintendent.
During the period of operation the operator shall comply with
the New York State Timber Harvesting Guidelines promulgated by the
Department of Environmental Conservation, New York Society of American
Foresters and SUNY and no operations shall take place without a permit
from the Town or while one is revoked. The property owner and logger
shall both be furnished with a copy of said guidelines and acknowledge
receipt of same as part of the logging permit. Generally, selective
harvests shall be limited to trees of fourteen-inch caliper or above
measured at one foot off the ground.
Nothing herein shall be deemed applicable to the clearing of
any land by farmers and/or homeowners for purposes of growing agricultural
crops or pasturing in an agricultural district.
Timber harvesting operations shall be restricted along the perimeter
property lines of the property being logged as specified in the New
York State Timber Harvesting Guidelines.
The penalty for failure to comply with this chapter shall be
up to $250 for each violation. Any fine imposed shall be independent
of and in addition to the obligation to make repairs to road damage
caused by a logging operation.
The Town Board may direct the Code Enforcement Officer to waive
any provisions of this chapter where the requirements would be unreasonably
burdensome or uneconomical for small wood lot owners engaged in timber
harvesting. Such waivers may be extended to individual landowners
or to classes of owners or loggers, provided the aforementioned Timber
Harvesting Guidelines are followed to the maximum extent practical
under the circumstances. For the purpose of this section the term
"small wood lot owners" is defined as where engaged in timber harvesting
under 100 acres.
